Stephen Covey

If life were a painting, and you were an artist;
What would you paint?
-Stephen Covey

The Eagles

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key.

from Already Gone, peformed by The Eagles

“When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.” -Jacques Cousteau

Who are you to play small? What does it really get you to not step into all that you can be? Most people spend their lives fitting into molds that someone else set for them. They come upon moments where they can live in their brilliance but because of what they believe others would think of them, they don’t act on them. Many times it may also be about comfort. Excellence can sometimes cause people to feel uncomfortable.

There are others who surround themselves by people who expect greatness. These people are thrust into great situations. They test their metal against all kinds of situations. They grow from them, and then they move on to greater things. These people live for the uncomfortable moments. These are the people we follow. These are very well sometimes the people that we aspire to be.

Today, I will take advantage of any chance to lead an extraordinary life. I will live outside of my comfort zone.

www.pacingoutcomes.com

“I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life's greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they achieve. This level of resolve can move mountains, but it must be constant and consistent. As simplistic as this may sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who live their dreams from those who live in regret.” -Anthony Robbins

There is a saying in the Alcoholics Anonomous program, “Don’t quit 5 minutes before the miracle happens.” The world is filled with people that almost succeeded. If we listen and take notes from those that created great things we find something interesting. We find that they didn’t see their success just before they fell into it. They were blindly doing what they needed to be doing. It is almost like success comes as if falling backwards blindfolded. With that in mind, how dangerous could it be at any time to be inches away from success?

When we are committed to an outcome, it takes blind belief that it will happen. The world will appear to deny in one hand while sneaking up from behind with the other. Only commitment to the outcome will keep us on the road to success. Walking toward our goal and never stopping is the only sure fire way to insure we reach our destination. The journey, once we truly own it, is the single tool needed to carve our future.

Today, I will continue on my path.

www.pacingoutcomes.com

The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible. -Taken from the Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland

Most of us have seen many examples of things we thought were impossible but were accomplished. What separated the men and women who accomplished those seemingly impossible feats from those of us that viewed them impossible? There was a deep seated belief that the impossible was possible.

When I use those examples as filters to look through regarding what I consider impossible. I will see that anything is possible. When I am able to see the impossible as possible, I open my mind to the solutions that create the path that makes possibility happen. The way that I view my world has a direct coorilation with what I am able to accomplish and how I choose to live my life.

Today, I will allow myself to accomplish the impossible.

www.pacingoutcomes.com

We can get the facts correct and totally miss the message. We sometimes see only what we want to see. -Bob Sheehan CEO Boys and Girls Home and Family Services

When you look at reality and how you live, what is more important, the facts or the way that you look at them? Have you ever had all the facts about something and made a complete error in judgment regarding what was going on? The truth is that we all have. That is not to say that concrete facts aren’t important, they are. It is only to say that we must be prepared to re-write what it is that we believe is the truth.

This is what is meant by not taking yourself too serious. All of us, from a certain angle will be at odds with what it is that we believe is acceptable in reality. This means that judging others can only lead to misconceptions of what their chosen reality is really like. When we strive to understand, we allow space for our point of view to change. We then take further control of our lives.

Today, I will look for things that appear to be in opposition to my views and strive to understand them.

www.pacingoutcomes.com

“Will you choose your path….or will you have it chosen for you?” -From the series Heroes

There is a lot of talk about creating your destiny. We have all seen the multitude of abundance…self-help…creating your reality books, workshops or even movies. Many people spend huge amounts of time, energy and money trying to find an easier/softer way of creating destiny. The hard truth is that we are creating it every day. We don’t need lessons on how to create reality, we are already creating it. We don’t need to learn how to choose, even the act of not choosing is a choice. We can’t not choose.

When I sit around and wait for my world to happen, I am giving up the control for which direction I will go to someone else. But, I am still ultimately responsible for how it turns out whether or not it turns out good. I will be put on a path, I can either stand up and be counted, or shrink back and let someone else choose. Either way, I am still an actor in the play. I will still need to contribute a verse. The question is whether or not someone else writes the words that I say.

Today, I will choose my path.

www.pacingoutcomes.com

A great man is a sentence. -Clare Booth Luce

A good sentence doesn’t shoot off in multiple directions. A good sentence carries a clear message, a single message. When we look back on the lives of great men we see that they were all struck by a single goal. All of their lives were punctuated by one desire, one passion that totally consumed them. When we allow our lives to stand for a single purpose it takes on a more powerful stance.

We all have that one thing inside of us. We all have that thing that is screaming to get out. Unfortunately, we allow ourselves to get confused and turned around by things that are less important to us. Then we use those same obstacles as excuses as to why we don’t accomplish greater things. The interesting thing is that when we take the road to accomplishing those great things, we start to see these less important things for what they are.

Today, I will search through my life to see the things that may be less important in my life.

www.pacingoutcomes.com

We lift ourselves by our thought; we climb upon our vision of ourselves. If you want to enlarge your life, you must first enlarge your thought of it and of yourself. Hold the ideal of yourself as you long to be, always, everywhere – your ideal of what you long to attain – the ideal of health, efficiency, success. -Orison Swett Marden (1850 – 1924)

Most of us live up to our glass ceiling and no farther. Although we are capable of more, we have trained ourselves that we are only able to accomplish what we see. The strange paradox is that, by not striving for more we validate our inability. We strengthen our belief of our inadequacies by not striving to surpass them.

By seeking more of life, by demanding more of our lives, we break through the glass ceiling that has kept us from having more from life. By seeing just how big life can be, we start to see just how big we can be. By continually surrounding ourselves with others who seek to be more than they are, we start to see how we can become more. We start to climb through the hole we have created by smashing the ceiling.

Today, I will imagine how my life can be better. I will strive to move in that direction.

www.pacingoutcomes.com

The Miracle

Do not pray for easy lives.

Pray to be stronger men.

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.

Pray for powers equal to your tasks.

Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle,

but you shall be the miracle.

Phillips Brooks (1835 – 1893)

www.pacingoutcomes.com